Using the Web and social media to sell real estate

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors is a British company that provides market forecasts and property surveys in the international real estate market. They have the objective to set a standard of quality and evaluation so that nobody gets fooled while dealing with an investment in a foreign market.

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It is an independent non profit organization that provides content and services only to its members. If you search on the Web you will be able to find very little complaints about their activity, therefore they have a very tight system of controlling their own work and don’t bother to hide criticism on the net, both good things.

But what this has to do with you? Well they have elected Italy, my own country of origin, as one of the best places to invest in real estate for foreign investors in 2009 and the funny thing is that at the same time Italians have been recognized in 2009 as the number one investor group purchasing properties in the US.

There is reciprocity here at work: Italy offers very stable prices and an appreciating currency for the US investors who want to protect their cash, North America offers to Italians and Europeans the chance to buy as many as three houses for the price they would buy a condo apartment in Europe.

Are we looking to a new trend? A major market opportunity? Yes, provided you understand that there are important bridges to gap in legislation and taxation to make the project easy for the investors and to reap the full financial benefits.

One major concern is also rehab costs: in Florida, where I work, you can rehab a house for around 17 – 20 dollars a square feet (prices are higher in as you move North), in Italy instead the typical rehab job will cost you 1,000 or 1,500 euro per square meter (which translates to 140 – 200 or so dollars per square feet): ten times a much! And ti will last much longer due to the different construction techniques and the more complex red tape.

So a basic rule of thumb would be to look for a property in move in condition when you go to Europe, and instead look for a house that needs some work when you come to the US. Both ways you will have to be careful on how you setup the currency exchange because you might lose some top dollars just in bank commissions.

Roberto Mazzoni